49
AT THE ROOTS OF ETHNIC FEMALE GENITAL MODIFICATION
Preliminary Report
Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Eleanora Tita, FrancoViviani
Padua Working Group on Female Genital Mutilation, Department of General Psychology, University of Padua (Italy)
Abstract: The substitution of the term female genital mutilation with ethnic female genital modification (EFGM) would be beneficial because of its lesser semantically negative connotation and superior expression of the interventions’
expansive/reductive duality. All forms of EFGM have a clear relationship with coupling, and thus with the resulting fecundity (concrete manifestation of procreative capacity). Fecundity is the fundamental element linking the first inhabitants of Africa to their most recent descendants (De Rachewiltz, 1963).
All forms of EFGM aim to increase fecundity (in reality or according to cultural assumption) and are accomplished by either enhancement of genitalia (expansive modification, such as elongation of the labia minora) or degradation of genitalia (reductive modification, such as infibulation). Both longininfism and infibulation refer, in their origin, to the same past population, the Bushmen/Hottentots. This group carried the “apron” as a congenital, morphologic feature. This has been preserved through manipulation, for
descending from an ancient Khoisanid population.
INTRODUCTION
Since 1996, the World Health Organization (WHO) has used the term female genital mutilation (FGM) to classify a group of permanent inter- ventions on the female external genitalia proving extremely heterogeneous in nature, for their consequent repercussions, and in the socio-cultural systems of the populations to which they refer. Use of the term “mutilation” is
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G.C. Denniston et al. (eds.), Bodily Integrity and the Politics of Circumcision, 49 55.
of infibulation, belong to an ethnic group of hunters (the Bon), probably example, among the Baganda of Uganda. In Somalia, the Midgan, operators
2006 Springer.
1. REDEFINING FGM
It is our opinion that the most adapted alternative expression is ethnic female genital modification (EFGM), as seen in several recent (and less so) works (Puccioni, 1904; Erlich,1986; Fusaschi, 2003). The term “modification”
is acceptable both to western women and African immigrants. Furthermore, use of the adjective “ethnic” underlines, in addition to the plurality of excisory populations, the cultural rather than therapeutic motivation of these interventions, as emphasized in the WHO definition.
The proposed expression can also refer to the expansive/reductive duality of these interventions (Fusaschi, 2003). This dichotomy of the EFGM stands confirmed by the geographic distribution of the interventions in Africa, which we have mapped in reference to longininfism (ritually induced hypertrophy of the labia minora). (Map), in respect to the well-noted distribution of reductive forms as defined by Hosken (1982; 1994);
examining the linguistic and ecological elements. Expansive populations have at disposition a rich and articulated vocabulary for topics within the sexual sphere (Kashamura, 1973; De Rachewiltz, 1963; Grassivaro Gallo and Villa, 2004); reductive populations, on the other hand, have a minimalist vocabulary lacking many expressions and concepts tied to sexual life (Taha Baasher, 1982).
From an ecological standpoint, East African infibulators are primarily nomadic pastoralists (Hicks, 1986; Grassivaro Gallo and Viviani, 1992), and the expansors of the Great Lakes region are prevalently agricultural populations (Grassivaro Gallo and Villa, 2003).
2. CULTURAL ROOTS OF THE EFGM
All forms of EFGM are indispensable prerequisites to marriage. This clearly influences fertility, and thus its practical realization for every woman, fecundity, defined as the concrete manifestation of procreative capacity (Livi Bacci, 1990).
inappropriate in several cases belonging to type 4, and assumes a strongly negative semantic connotation especially for East-African excised immigrants,
evident in recent studies (Shell-Duncan and Hernlund, 2000; Gruenbaum, 2001; Fusaschi, 2003), where various alternatives are proposed.
searchers and operators in regard to this generalized expression is increasingly who do not consider themselves mutilated. The resulting discomfort of re-
The aim of EFGM is to increase fecundity (the number of children). This, in fact, is achieved by expansive interventions (such as longininfism), and is believed by cultural assumption to do so also for reductive interventions, which sever the external genitals, and thus degrade the sexual act (as seen in infibulation).
Fecundity is the most significant link between the earliest inhabitants of Africa and their progeny, the current inhabitants of the dark continent (De Rachewiltz, 1963). EFGM serves as a clear example of heredity of cultural characteristics that are passed down through generations by laws equally rigid to those of biological heredity (Cavalli-Sforza, 2002).
Both expansive and reductive forms of EFGM refer to the same ancestral population, the Bushmen/Hottentots, the presence of whom in Africa dates back to the Paleolithic (Battaglia, 1954).
3. THE BUSHMEN/HOTTENTOTS (B/H) AND THEIR HEREDITY
These early inhabitants, described since the 1700s and 1800s by anthropologists as hunter/gatherers of Northeast Africa (Baumann and Westermann, 1948) no longer exist as a pure group. The representatives of the Boscopoid race, believed to have preceded them, are completely unknown to the anthropological record. The Bushmen /Hottentots, however,
Between the physical traits is the structure of the male and female external genital apparatus, clearly conducive to the sexual act. The men maintained a penis rictus (of short length, normally in an erect position), while women presented a congenital hypertrophy of the labia minora (apron, grembiule, tablier), accompanied by reduced salience of the Venus mount and labia majora, thus allowing the enlarged labia to compensate for the reduced penis size, and facilitate coitus (De Rachewiltz, 1963).
Pushed by more modern groups, the Bushmen/Hottentots began to migrate towards the central and southern areas of the continent, always towards the East (Stow, 1905; Schapera, 1930; Seligman, 1930; Bleek and have been described in great detail, especially considering their morpho- logical peculiarities and specific living conditions (Le Vaillant, 1790; Cuvier, 1817; Stow,1905; Peron and Lesueur, 1883; Schultze-Jena, 1928; Rugiu, 1931).
Lloyd, 1968). Coming into contact with resident populations, they hybrid- dized to the point of disappearance as a pure race. Currently, small residual nuclei dispersed throughout western Africa remain, included among the ethnicities most often subjected to manual labor (Kindiga e Sandawe, del Tanganika; Ndorobo, Midgan e Bon, della Somalia; Wata del Nord-Est;
Sanye-Ariangolou, in Africa Orientale; Gow del Niger; Mahalbi, del Niger e Chad; Nemadi del Giuf – Baumann and Westermann, 1948; Battaglia, 1954;
Grottanelli, 1976).
Through hybridization, the tablier as a recessive trait (Peron and Lesueur, 1883; Dart, 1937) was lost (as well as the male penis rictus). The memory of its facilitation of procreativity, however, was maintained through cultural heredity. Contemporary populations of the Great Lakes region ritually obtain elongated labia minora, associated often with a corresponding enlargement of the clitoris and vaginal canal substantial enough to achieve the same result as the tablier, obtaining maximum satisfaction from the sexual act, thus increasing reproductive success.
The link between the Bushmen/Hottentot and expansive EFGM is thus incontestable.
Passage to the reductive forms of genital modification is less evident, and requires an introduction.
The labia minora are erectile structures (similar to the clitoris), characterized by ample dimensional variety between individuals. Occasional cases of hypertrophic labia minora have been noted also among modern European populations, which are considered pathologies in gynecological literature (Jeffcoate, 1967); when this occurs, modern aesthetic surgery contradicts the condition through labiaplasty (Guth and Von Samsonov, 2001) in cases where the patient complains of hypersensitivity due to the large labia minora (which may also result from excessive masturbation).
In the same vein, it is possible that peri-saharian populations began to systematically reduce the dimensions of the labia minora and clitoris, becoming excisors. Through oral tradition, a series of negative connotations
as then maintained.
In this evolution, one should also consider the fear regarding a woman so powerful as to manage the success of a sexual relationship (Fussaschi, 2003).
It is certain that in Ethiopia (Bruce, 1791), and in Egypt (Sonnini, 1798) excision has been described as an intervention necessary to prevent the In all of East-Africa, these are considered ugly and obscene; it is believed that non-excised, the labia and clitoris may grow to the point of dangling between the legs (as would a penis); furthermore, contact between the clitoris and the male organ during coitus, or a baby at birth, is perceived as potentially fatal. A non-excised woman may also prove to be sexually uncontrollable.
Recent studies, however, have not found proof in favor of the assumption of hypertrophy of the labia minora in North-East Africa (Erlich, 1986;
Hosken, 1982).
“abnormal” development of genitalia left.
regarding these features w
Concluding, also the origin of excision can be connected to labial hypertrophy among the Bushmen/Hottentot, the only group among which it has been described as a congenital feature.
Infibulation, the focus of which is found in the Horn of Africa, from where the Bushmen/Hottentot began their migration, may have begun casually as an accidental side-effect of excisory practices (a not-rare occurrence even today (Grassivaro Gallo, 1986: interview F, page 186).
Secondarily, it may have been adopted systematically due to its usefulness in predators (Grassivaro Gallo and Viviani, 1992).
It is additionally necessary to consider that, at least in Somalia, traditional operators of infibulation, the Midgan, belong to a group of hunters from Low Giuba, the Bon, descendant from the Bushmen. They perform these interventions on the daughters of their bosses, but leave their own intact. It is possible that they, profoundly knowledgeable on nature, herbs, and the medical arts, are the inventors of the most severe genital mutilation.
In every attempt to analyze genital modifications, the argument always returns to the Bushmen/Hottentot.
4. CONCLUSIONS
From the analysis executed, one may note foremost the depth of the roots of EFGM in time, which have spread through generations as a cultural characteristic since the Paleolithic.
Fundamentally correlated to these practices is access to marriage, anticipated by all for excised women. The centrality of these practices has been clearly elaborated in recent studies following socio-political directives extraneous to our analysis (Mackie, 2000), arriving at the same conclusion.
Marriage is viewed as the institution in which one develops legitimate progeny that must be as ample as possible.
Fertility in general and the fecundity of every woman thus serves as the motor of the EFGM, in both its reductive and expansive forms. Considering these indications, we may also gain understanding of the tenacious affection held by the African woman for these practices, otherwise inexplicable to the western observer. She feels ancestrally obliged to sustain this tradition to prevent the extinction of her progeny and the disappearance of her ethnicity.
On this point, the substantial incomprehension of western society, completely estranged to these values, and among western women, the maximum incomprehension may be attributed to the Italian woman, who has the lowest birth index of all.
a pastoral environment to protect women, children, and herds of sheep from
Precursors of these traditions, the Bushmen/Hottentot migratory directives in Africa perfectly coincide to the eastern territories where modern day genital modifications are performed, thus demonstrating them to be a case of convergent cultural evolution; while the reductive/expansive duality of the modality in which they are realized appears to be a case of divergent cultural evolution. Confirming the precocious separation of reductive and expansive populations are significant psycholinguistic and ecological differences. One may therefore hypothesize that ethnic and environmental factors determined the fissure between the interventions’ two forms.
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